Category Archives: RANTING & RAVING

In the prescient wisdom of “The Fat Bastard Gazette,” we declared as early as September 2, 2014 what should be done economically and punitively with unrepentant obese naves. Those far left rapscallions, who prowl about demanding accommodation from both private and public institutions, are making their mark more loudly and outrageously under the umbrella of cultural and personal diversity.

The Fat Bastard emphasizes the word unrepentant. We do not take umbrage with any individual who is morbidly obese and trying to overcome their condition. The Captain himself was 305 pounds, a class III morbidly obese individual. However, the cretins we do rail against are those strident cadres in the Fat Activist Movement and all their sympathetic followers.

This is just another chink in the armor of Western Civilization, as we know it. It may be said ancient Rome fell not from without but from within. The barbarians were at the gate in just the right time to pick up the pieces. Therefore, so it is with the United States, the largest and presently strongest superpower since Rome, about to be decimated from within by, a pusillanimous group of Fat Activist provocateurs, and an ever widening, accepting, passive audience. We are in a state of decadent decline. The doors to the Scriptorium will be locked with only a select few holding the keys. Our moral fiber and personal accountability to the greater good are sinking at an ever-quickening rate into the moral morass of wanton hedonism.

As a disclaimer, the Captain wants fellow travelers to now that the use of the word fat, fat activist, and fat acceptance are terms used by the Journal of Gender Studies and not pejoratively used by “The Fat Bastard Gazette”

Research published in the Journal of Gender Studies suggest within the last few years, in Canada and the United States, blogs have become integral for fat women and their kindred spirits to create and further develop aggressive strategies to question feminine biased anti-fat conversations by media, government, medicine, and public health. Presently, popular conversations in regards to fat people, in particular women, tend to run from institutions implicating a ‘moral deficit’ to a ‘risky behavior’ to ‘political discrimination’ where parts from each conversation shape how fat women’s bodies are viewed within the larger culture. The main messages surrounding the ideal of the thin body center on good citizenship. These messages emphasize taking personal responsibility; encourage use strict diets and exercise, and “perpetuate an image of responsible citizenship” as an extension of these messages. Fat acceptance bloggers take elements from LGBTQ (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans Questioning) movements to extend aggressive dominating strategies, different forms of fat representation, and “address the economic marginalization of fat women in industry.” In addition, through conversations on beauty and body image, bloggers contest anti- fat themes to develop aggressive strategies beyond the themes of fat as a ‘lifestyle choice’, “and body size as biologically rich and genetically determined that dominate the fat acceptance movement.

“For the contributors and founders of FaT GiRL, the world that fat women inhabit was made difficult to navigate through artificial barriers (e.g., small seats on buses); not fat bodies (Lebesco, 2004). The politics promoted by FaT GiRl diverge drastically from more conservative approaches to fat activism employed by groups like the NAAFA (National Association to Advance Fat Americans) . PPPO’s (Pretty Porky and Pissed Off) performances, however, underline how public spaces can be and have been organized according to consumerist and fat phobic assumptions that circumscribe how fat women engage with them.”

“Visibility refers to how fat women may experience being fat in relation to anti-fat discourses and contest these discourses through visual strategies. Murray (2005) asserts that in the West, ‘we live in a culture of a negative collective “knowingness” of fat women‘ (p. 154), where fat women are ‘known’ to be lazy, lacking willpower, and (sexually) out of control. Such ‘knowledges’ are thought to ‘inform every interaction we have with others and the world, and position us along a spectrum of bodies and identities’ (p. 154). Murray (2005) asserts that current fat politics asks that the fat body be reconceived within dominant frameworks of beauty; demands sometimes superficially read as subversive.”

“As a result, individual and collective bodies, as well as institutions, corporations, and states, must present as ‘lean,’ ‘fit,’ ‘flexible,’ and ‘autonomous’ to demonstrate power (Elliot, 2007; Lemke, 2001). The fat individual is then characterized as possessing none or limited amounts of those traits and, therefore, putting a strain on the ‘public’ (e.g., the perception that fat people drain government resources, increase medical insurance premiums, and literally take up more space in public areas). Not surprisingly, fat people are targeted by government interventions in an attempt to mitigate the ideological risk they present, which then leads to their further stigmatization (Elliot, 2007; Guthman & DuPuis, 2006; Lebesco, 2011).”

Body-fat-percentage-men

“This stigmatization of fat bodies encourages the use of self-disciplinary practices (e.g., extreme dieting and exercise) to achieve a socially desired version of selfhood. The choices geared toward meeting the thin body ideal made by individuals exist within larger power structures maintained through ‘self-subjectification,’ defined as how individuals attempt to shape their bodies to meet, often unachievable, physical ideals (Connolly, 1985; Leahy, 2009). Meleo-Erwin (2011) suggests that individuals are ‘disciplined’ through self-subjectification in late capitalist society instead of through techniques of overt coercion; she argues that individuals are regulated through their active engagement with promoted practices and techniques that are normalized by self-subjective behaviors.”

“Implicit in body diversity discourses is the assumption that genetics determine the extent to which bodies regulate hunger and/or metabolize food at a weight-maintaining pace. This assumption has led FAs to assert people have a set weight point that their bodies will revert to without sustained or extreme dieting and exercise (Guthman & DuPuis, 2006; Saguy & Riley, 2005).”

Senator Joseph Mccarthy known for hunting down communists, McCarthy was the Chairman of the Government Operations Committee and its Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the U.S. Senate in the 1950s nicknamed “Tailgunner Joe”

“Increasing knowledge of how self-identified women FA bloggers engage in FA politics and discourses online then, first, provides important insight into the way change or new phenomena in the FA movement in North America relates to the intersection of gender, race, and queer fat politics (Herdon, 2006). Second, this knowledge helps uncover the limitations of medicalized discourses around fat and fat embodiment, especially as it relates to women, by highlighting the ideological chasm that exists between medical and government institutions and fat acceptance activism and the cultural rather than the scientific assumptions that underpin them.”

“As with earlier fat acceptance activists, such as the Toronto based group Pretty Porky and Pissed Off, bloggers, like Leslie Kinzel and Jennifer Rowe use or call strategies (e.g., political consumer activism) to highlight the factors that limit fat women’s participation in consumer culture, especially in the area of fashion. In calling for boycotts of retailers who refuse to sell clothing in larger and plus sizes, as Rowe has, fat people can draw attention to how they remain systemically underserved or ignored by certain industries.”

The extreme far left is on the march. Where is Tailgunner Joe when we need him?

Extraordinary taxes should be justly levied on all the truculent,strident, Fat Activists that put undue stress on health insurance premiums, and public aid allotments. Extra fees for the unrepentant morbidly obese that take up extra seats and contribute to excessive fuel consumption are completely in line concerning public transportation. No wide seats should be installed in any public or medical waiting rooms (e.g. doctors’ offices), let the recalcitrant obese stand and force them to think about their self-inflicted malady. Being fat and proud should have more than negative health consequences. Social ostracism as well as monetary penalties should be encouraged not discouraged as politically incorrect. Without actively enforced punitive measures, the fat epidemic will continue to rise. Let us disabuse ourselves of any accommodation for the Fat Activists. Almost without exception, the unrepentant, obdurate morbidly obese did it to themselves practicing three of the seven deadly sins, sloth, gluttony and pride. (“The Fat Bastard Gazette” Vol.1 NO.6)

Dear readers, if you have read this far, the Captain would be most heartened if you would rate this and future articles and/or leave a comment at the top of the blog posts whether positive or negative. In this way, “The Fat Bastard Gazette” may better serve you and our entire readership.

Dear Hail-Fellows well met, “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is written and edited by your favorite curmudgeons Captain Hank Quinlan and

Flatfoot Willie, Correspondent at Large with fellow Staff Writers

Staff (monkeys in the back room). We offer an ongoing tirade to support or offend anyone of any large dimension, cultural background, religious affiliation, or color of skin. This gazette rails against an eclectic mix of circus ring ne’er do wells, big ring fatty and fatso whiners, congenital idiots, the usual motley assortment of the profoundly dumbfounded, and a favorite of intelligent men everywhere, the

May the Most Venerable H. L. Mencken bless our unworthy but earnest attempts at tongue in cheek jocularity .

All this and more always keeping our major focus on “Why so fat?” Enough said? We at “The Fat Bastard Gazette” think so. If you like what you read, and you know whom you are, in this yellow blog, tell your friends. We would be elated with an ever-wider readership. We remain cordially yours, Captain Hank Quinlan and the Monkeys in the back room

“The Fat Bastard Gazette” does not purport to offer any definitive medical or pharmaceutical advice whatsoever in any explicit or implied manner. Always consult a qualified physician in all medical or pharmaceutical matters. “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is only the opinion of informed nonprofessionals for the general edification and entertainment of the greater public.

No similarities to any existing names or characters are expressed or implied. We reserve the right to offend or support anybody, anything, or any sacred totem across the globe.

“You might as well ask if it’s natural to do up one’s trousers with zippers,” said the Controller sarcastically. “You remind me of another of those old fellows called Bradley. He defined philosophy as the finding of bad reason for what one believes by instinct. As if one believed anything by instinct! One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them. Finding bad reasons for what one believes for other bad reasons–that’s philosophy. People believe in God because they’ve been conditioned to.”

― All quotes Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

“A group of 18 scientists and ethicists today warned that a revolutionary new tool to cut and splice DNA should be used cautiously when attempting to fix human genetic disease, and strongly discouraged any attempts at making changes to the human genome that could be passed on to offspring” (Sanders, 2015).

“Among the authors of this warning is Jennifer Doudna, the co-inventor of the technology, called CRISPR-Cas9, which is driving a new interest in gene therapy, or “genome engineering.” She and colleagues co-authored a perspective piece that appears in the March 20 issue of Science, based on discussions at a meeting that took place in Napa on Jan. 24. The same issue of Science features a collection of recent research papers, commentary and news articles on CRISPR and its implications” (Sanders, 2015).

The bacterial enzyme Cas9 is the engine of RNA-programmed genome engineering in human cells. (Graphic by Jennifer Doudna/UC Berkeley)

“Given the speed with which the genome engineering field is evolving, our group concluded that there is an urgent need for open discussion of the merits and risks of human genome modification by a broad cohort of scientists, clinicians, social scientists, the general public and relevant public entities and interest groups,” the authors wrote.” (Sanders, 2015).

William Shakespeare

“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” (Hamlet Act 3, scene 2, 230). Yes indeed, the Captain does think that Jennifer Doudna and cohorts protest too much. Does one think with a technology called CRISPR-CS9, acronym for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-Cas system9 (Cas9 protein), commercially available since 2013, that it will not be used to edit select sections of embryonic human DNA? One need only type in CRISPER –CS 9 and a myriad of bio labs pop up, offering their services to mutate genetically any living thing you have short of a human sample. Do Doudna et al. honestly believe that any or all-sundry bio labs will not eventually tinker with the entire human genome? Some rogue or rogue state, including China, Iran, Pakistan etc.; will try to do it with an extremely good chance of success.

The experiment was unsuccessful in ways that had been foretold by scientists against human experimentation.

“The Chinese researchers did not plan to produce a baby — they used defective human embryos — but did hope to end up with an embryo with a precisely altered gene in every cell but no other inadvertent DNA damage. None of the 85 human embryos they injected fulfilled those criteria. In almost every case, either the embryo died or the gene was not altered. Even the four embryos in which the targeted gene was edited had problems. Some of the embryo cells overrode the editing, resulting in embryos that were genetic mosaics. And speckled over their DNA was a sort of collateral damage — DNA mutations caused by the editing attempt.”

So this takes us back to the question the Captain posed before this article was written; will some rogue state not try to alter the human genome? Well it has happened!

“The New York Times” article is well written as usual and understandable to all. The Captain recommends you click on the hyperlink and read this article in full.

Below is a piece from Wikipedia on CRISPER technology for all you bioscience geeks, and the Captain is one of them. This makes a great bioscience crossword puzzle with the answers!

CRISPR

CRISPRs (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) are DNAloci containing short repetitions of base sequences. Each repetition is followed by short segments of “spacer DNA” from previous exposures to a virus.[2]

CRISPRs are often associated with cas genes that code for proteins related to CRISPRs. The CRISPR/Cas system is a prokaryoticimmune system that confers resistance to foreign genetic elements such as plasmids and phages[5][6] and provides a form of acquired immunity. CRISPR spacers recognize and cut these exogenous genetic elements in a manner analogous to RNAi in eukaryotic organisms.[2]

Since 2013, the CRISPR/Cas system has been used for gene editing (adding, disrupting or changing the sequence of specific genes) and gene regulation in species throughout the tree of life.[7] By delivering the Cas9 protein and appropriate guide RNAs into a cell, the organism’s genome can be cut at any desired location.

It may be possible to use CRISPR to build RNA-guided gene drives capable of altering the genomes of entire populations.[8]

Dear Hail-Fellows well met, “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is written and edited by your favorite curmudgeons Captain Hank Quinlan and

Flatfoot Willie, Correspondent at Large with fellow Staff Writers

Staff (monkeys in the back room). We offer an ongoing tirade to support or offend anyone of any large dimension, cultural background, religious affiliation, or color of skin. This gazette rails against an eclectic mix of circus ring ne’er do wells, big ring fatty and fatso whiners, congenital idiots, the usual motley assortment of the profoundly dumbfounded, and a favorite of intelligent men everywhere, the

May the Most Venerable H. L. Mencken bless our unworthy but earnest attempts at tongue in cheek jocularity .

All this and more always keeping our major focus on “Why so fat?” Enough said? We at “The Fat Bastard Gazette” think so. If you like what you read, and you know whom you are, in this yellow blog, tell your friends. We would be elated with an ever-wider readership. We remain cordially yours, Captain Hank Quinlan and the Monkeys in the back room

“The Fat Bastard Gazette” does not purport to offer any definitive medical or pharmaceutical advice whatsoever in any explicit or implied manner. Always consult a qualified physician in all medical or pharmaceutical matters. “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is only the opinion of informed nonprofessionals for the general edification and entertainment of the greater public.

No similarities to any existing names or characters are expressed or implied. We reserve the right to offend or support anybody, anything, or any sacred totem across the globe.

This blog cannot get away from circus performers. This issue’s featured circus clown is one ex-fatty Catherine Weingarten. She hails from somewhere in the United Kingdom and she is on a mission to give Facebook its comeuppance. She takes umbrage at Facebook’s fat man emoji. With total gay abandon, this clown relates to us her Mein Kampf (My Struggle) with weight-loss. She goes on to say how demeaning it is to make a light of her and her kind of such a life and death situation. Her struggle is one of skipped meals and time spent in front of the mirror quaking in fear at the amorphous blob of a reflection. While we all applaud her, efforts at slimming down, we look askance at the exuberance she displays wallowing in self-pity.

Sigmund Freud

Our rabble rousing circus clown is shaking the bush, by having started a petition to end Facebook’s emoticon. Moreover, by the look of it, she has 15,000 supporters already, what a number! This clown “knows what it’s like to feel fat” and wants to ram it down everybody else’s throats as well.

Our intrepid young woman and her petition signers would be better served in the psychiatrist’s chair rather than managing a petition for political correctness. Remember evil doers and fat shamers ‘fat is not a feeling’.

CHANTIX is in the news. It seems taking this medication with alcohol may cause blackouts or cause you to hit your neighbor over the head with a bar stool. How long will it take the Booboisie to realize that drinking alcohol with any medication usually has serious side effects? Moreover, how long will it take the Booboisie to learn how to read the package insert or the back of the box or package for that matter? Small type is no excuse; get reading glasses or a magnifying glass. If you are too lazy to read the package insert, go to the Internet’s web sites there is plenty of information to be gleaned. The Captain and staff would really like to know why the patient did not ask the Dr. about the drug and its side effects before leaving the office with the prescription in the first place. The Dr. does not read minds. It is the patients’ responsibility to get all the information in order to make an informed choice. The following is a brief list found on the Internet about what to tell the Dr. before he writes the script.

“Before taking this medicine to make sure you can safely take CHANTIX, tell your doctor if you have any of these other conditions:

a history of depression or mental illness;

kidney disease (or if you are on dialysis);

heart disease, circulation problems; or

if you drink alcohol. (Bold, underline author’s)

FDA pregnancy category C. It is not known whether CHANTIX will harm an unborn baby. Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant while using this medicine.”

Well, well, well, is not this a revelation “if you drink alcohol.” Even if the product was only labeled last year to warn potential users of this side effect, it should be obvious even to the most casual observer in this prescription society, that all drugs have side effects some more than others. What is more, to blame the FDA’s tardiness in disseminating this information after the fact of it being put on the label is sheer balderdash. While the FDA is a regulatory and information agency, it cannot be expected to hold everyone’s hand at once and shoulder the responsibility that informed users should be responsible. This too was found on the Internet, taken directly from the Physicians’ desk reference on patient counseling for patients about to take CHANTIX:

PATIENT COUNSELING

Inform about risks and benefits of treatment. Instruct to set a date to quit smoking and initiate treatment 1 week before quit date. Encourage to continue to attempt to quit even w/ early lapses after quit day. Encourage patients who are motivated to quit and who did not succeed in stopping smoking during prior therapy for reasons other than intolerability due to adverse events, or who relapsed after treatment to make another attempt w/ therapy once factors contributing to the failed attempt have been identified and addressed. Provide educational materials and necessary counseling to support attempt at quitting smoking. Instruct to notify physician if persistent nausea or insomnia develops. Advise to d/c and notify physician if agitation, hostility, depressed mood, or changes in behavior/thinking develop. Advise to notify physician prior to treatment of any history of psychiatric illness. Inform that quitting smoking may be associated w/ nicotine withdrawal symptoms or exacerbation of preexisting psychiatric illness. Advise to inform physician of any history of seizures or other factors that can lower seizure threshold; instruct patient to d/c treatment and contact physician immediately if seizure is experienced. Instruct patient to reduce amount of alcohol they consume while on therapy until they know whether therapy affects their tolerance for alcohol. Advise to use caution when driving or operating machinery until patients know how quitting smoking and/or therapy may affect them. Advise to notify physician if symptoms of new or worsening CV events develop and to seek immediate medical attention if signs/symptoms of a MI or stroke are experienced. Instruct to d/c (discontinue) and seek immediate medical care if angioedema (i.e. swellingthatoccursjustbeneaththesurfaceoftheskinormucous membranes.) or a skin reaction occurs. Inform that vivid, unusual, or strange dreams may occur. If patient is pregnant, planning to become pregnant, or breastfeeding, advise about the risks of smoking, the potential risks of therapy, and the benefits of smoking cessation.

Therefore, for this blog’s two cents the FDA is not at fault. The fault lies with either the Dr. or the patient. We at “The Fat Bastard Gazette” seriously doubt it is the Dr.

Dear Hail-Fellows well met, “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is written and edited by your favorite curmudgeons Captain Hank Quinlan and

Flatfoot Willie, Correspondent at Large with fellow Staff Writers

Staff (monkeys in the back room). We offer an ongoing tirade to support or offend anyone of any large dimension, cultural background, religious affiliation, or color of skin. This gazette rails against an eclectic mix of circus ring ne’er do wells, big ring fatty and fatso whiners, congenital idiots, the usual motley assortment of the profoundly dumbfounded, and a favorite of intelligent men everywhere, the

May the Most Venerable H. L. Mencken bless our unworthy but earnest attempts at tongue in cheek jocularity .

All this and more always keeping our major focus on “Why so fat?” Enough said? We at “The Fat Bastard Gazette” think so. If you like what you read, and you know whom you are, in this yellow blog, tell your friends. We would be elated with an ever-wider readership. We remain cordially yours, Captain Hank Quinlan and the Monkeys in the back room

“The Fat Bastard Gazette” does not purport to offer any definitive medical or pharmaceutical advice whatsoever in any explicit or implied manner. Always consult a qualified physician in all medical or pharmaceutical matters. “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is only the opinion of informed nonprofessionals for the general edification and entertainment of the greater public.

No similarities to any existing names or characters are expressed or implied. We reserve the right to offend or support anybody, anything, or any sacred totem across the globe.

It is soon going to be the Summer of Love Revisited, the smell of oxytocin, coming to a pharmacy near you, is in the air. Moreover, quite possibly a new baby boom if the effects of oxytocin on men are to be believed. Men could even breastfeed given a sufficient quantity of oxytocin taking some of the work off the women’s shoulders. Not to mention more cuddle time with hubby. With all that empathy going on labor pains can be shared if not physically, mentally. Life gets curiouser and curiouser. As if not all these bons sentiments, (good feelings) are enough, oxytocin taken before meals three times a day can reduce your caloric intake by a whopping 122 calories in addition to 80 calories from fat. Is not this worth all the trouble? In addition, as an extra bonus the fee for taking this oxytocin based, they say, on European costs would be about $275 a month. What a monumental bust this is. Oxytocin is better marketed as a male tranquilizer then weight-loss product. Everything comes full circle. If you are going to use a drug for weight loss, nothing beats the amphetamines for efficacy and price. Nevertheless, remember as soon as you go off the drug your weight will most probably return and then some.

Timothy Leary and Neal Cassady (right)

Oh happy daze, the word is out, acid and shrooms are less harmful than alcohol and other controlled substances. Combine one of these two drugs with oxytocin and you have a good trip. Old Richard Nixon gave LSD and psilocybin a bad rap back in the day. As paranoid as he was, he probably took some bad LSD and cried sour grapes.

Study, Oxytocin May Reduce Appetite, Making it a Safe and Highly Effective Weight Loss Tool

March 8, 2015

The new study tried a manufactured nasal formulation of oxytocin, and discovered the hormone treatment lessened the quantity of calories that men consumed, particularly calories from greasy foods.

The hormone oxytocin is connected to numerous exercises that bond individuals together, including sex, embracing, kissing, holding hands, and conceiving an offspring and breast feeding. In pharmaceutical, its utilized to induce labor, oversee bleeding in moms after conception and urge out breast milk in nursing women, Lawson said.

The analysts launched their study into oxytocin’s potential effects for consuming because research in animals has proposed that the hormone helps the body regulate body intake, she said. “Not much is known about oxytocin effects on appetite and food consumption in humans,” Lawson added.

In the new study, the scientists randomly appointed 25 men (12 of whom were overweight or obese) to either take synthetic oxytocin by means of nasal spread or an inactive placebo. The men did not know which spray they were given. The average age of the participants was 27, as per the study.

After taking either the hormone or placebo, the men requested breakfast from a menu. They were given twofold segments of whatever they requested. Toward the end of the meal, the specialists measured the amount of food consumed.

The men later returned and did the examination once more, yet this time they got the placebo in the event that they’d taken oxytocin the past time, or the reverse.

The individuals who took the oxytocin consumed 122 less calories, on average, the study found.They additionally ate less fatty food — around 9 less fat grams on average. That means around 80 less calories from fatty food.

Lawson said it’s not clear from this study how oxytocin influences the appetite.

Furthermore, there are a few admonitions to the study. The specialists didn’t think about if the men who consumed less were hungrier later, and ladies were excluded, so there’s no real way to know how they may be influenced.

While the men who took oxytocin didn’t have more side effects than the other men, “potential side effects with intranasal oxytocin include uterine contractions in pregnant women and, rarely, nausea, headache or allergic dermatitis,” Lawson said.

The nasal spray is affirmed for utilization in Europe, yet not in the United States. If utilized preceding meals three times each day, the expense of the medication — based on European costs — would be about $275 a month, Lawson said.

The study is little, and still ahead of schedule in the examination procedure, noted Paul Zak, founding director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont Graduate University in California.

Still, he sees potential. “From an evolutionary perspective, oxytocin is released during positive social interactions — when we are around others who care about us. This is just when food sharing is likely to occur. If we want to lose weight, having others around us who care about us can help reduce appetite,” he suggested.

Latest studies have revealed that use of psychedelic drugs does not increase the risk of mental health problems. The study involved analysis of data from 135,000 randomly selected participants – including 19,000 people who had used drugs such as LSD and magic mushrooms.

The study showed that use of these Psychedelic drugs does not reveal any increased risk of developing mental health ailments later on in life.

Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim had also conducted a study earlier and had conducted population study investigating associations between mental health and psychedelic use. The study involved analysis of data in between 2001 to 2004.

Author and clinical psychologist Pal-orjan Johansen says, “Over 30 million US adults have tried psychedelics and there just is not much evidence of health problems.”

Co-author and neuroscientist Teri Krebs feels, “Drug experts consistently rank LSD and psilocybin mushrooms as much less harmful to the individual user and to society compared to alcohol and other controlled substances.”

The study envisaged the study of data obtained from the US National Health Survey (2008-2011) consisting of 135,095 randomly selected adults from the US, including 19,299 users of psychedelic drugs.

The researchers did not find any link between the use of psychedelic drugs like LSD and magic mushrooms and symptoms of mental illness like psychological distress, depression, anxiety or suicidal thoughts, plans and attempts.

However Johansen was quick to acknowledge the pitfalls of such studies and therefore considering the design and the mode of the study the researchers cannot rule out the negative effects of such drugs on certain individuals.

Johansen said, the researchers cannot “exclude the possibility that use of psychedelics might have a negative effect on mental health for some individuals or groups, perhaps counterbalanced at a population level by a positive effect on mental health in others.”

The details of the study are published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.

Who Were the Merry Pranksters?

Ken Kesey, leader of the Merry Pranksters, was arrested for marijuana possession.

The original Merry Pranksters patterned their lifestyles on the experiences in Jack Kerouac’s novel On The Road

Poets and writers such as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg defied mainstream society by publishing jazz-influenced works, often laced with drug references and obscene language. During the late 1950s, author Ken Kesey and several of his friends living in a Bohemian section of Stanford, California formed a loose alliance called the Merry Pranksters. The original Merry Pranksters patterned their lifestyles after the New York-based beatnik culture, especially the On the Road experiences of Jack Kerouac.

Around 1960, Ken Kesey volunteered for a series of medical experiments involving various psychedelic drugs, such as mescaline, peyote, morning glory seeds and most significantly, LSD. Kesey smuggled many of these substances back to the other Merry Pranksters, who later discovered legal methods for importing peyote from Mexico. Meanwhile, Kesey himself became a successful novelist with the publication of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Sometimes a Great Notion. Fueled by their mind-expanding drug experiences, the Merry Pranksters began to form grandiose ideas about turning on the rest of the country’s youth to LSD and other psychedelic drugs.

In 1964, Ken Kesey wanted to visit the New York City beatnik scene at the same time his novelSometimes a Great Notion would be published. To accomplish this cross-country trip, the Merry Pranksters bought a retired school bus and completely refurbished it. Inspired by the pop art of Andy Warhol and the comic book style of Roy Lichtenstein, the Merry Pranksters created numerous Day-Glo murals on both the interior and exterior walls. The bus also contained a number of film cameras and microphones, which the Merry Pranksters used to record nearly every second of their trip. Ken Kesey named the bus Further, perhaps referring to the mind-expanding effects of LSD.

The bus was driven primarily by Neal Cassady, a legendary counterculture figure made famous through Jack Kerouac’s writings. The plan was to drive around the United States with a large supply of LSD and other drugs. Visitors would be encouraged to ingest drug-laced juices and join the Merry Pranksters in street theater pranks or other improvised events. Since LSD was considered legal until 1966, law enforcement officers could not seize the bus or arrest its occupants for drug possession. This cross-country trip culminated in a fateful meeting with Jack Kerouac and several other Beat Generation leaders. Kerouac did not embrace the new counterculture generation, since many of their experiences were fueled by harder drugs than marijuana or alcohol.

After returning to California, the Merry Pranksters sponsored a series of parties designed to introduce LSD and other hallucinogens to the burgeoning hippie movement. These events were informally called Acid Tests, with signs asking “Can YOU pass the test?” The venues were painted in Day-Glo colors and featured the psychedelic artwork often associated with the Haight-Asbury hippie culture. Local bands were often hired to provide background music for the participants, with psychedelia-inspired names such as the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and the Doors.

After LSD became illegal in 1966, the Merry Pranksters suffered a tremendous blow. Fearing a lengthy prison sentence for drug possession charges, Ken Kesey faked a suicide attempt and fled to Mexico. The other Merry Pranksters soon went their separate ways as well. In 1968, Neal Cassady was found dead near some railroad tracks in Mexico.

Ken Kesey was eventually arrested for a relatively minor marijuana possession and given a six month sentence. The bus called Further was moved to Kesey’s home state of Oregon for safekeeping. Several Merry Pranksters have died since the 1960s, but Kesey continued to organize a series of reunions until his death from liver cancer surgery complications in 2001.

Dear Hail-Fellows well met, “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is written and edited by your favorite curmudgeons Captain Hank Quinlan and

Flatfoot Willie, Correspondent at Large with fellow Staff Writers

Staff (monkeys in the back room). We offer an ongoing tirade to support or offend anyone of any large dimension, cultural background, religious affiliation, or color of skin. This gazette rails against an eclectic mix of circus ring ne’er do wells, big ring fatty and fatso whiners, congenital idiots, the usual motley assortment of the profoundly dumbfounded, and a favorite of intelligent men everywhere, the

May the Most Venerable H. L. Mencken bless our unworthy but earnest attempts at tongue in cheek jocularity .

All this and more always keeping our major focus on “Why so fat?” Enough said? We at “The Fat Bastard Gazette” think so. If you like what you read, and you know whom you are, in this yellow blog, tell your friends. We would be elated with an ever-wider readership. We remain cordially yours, Captain Hank Quinlan and the Monkeys in the back room

“The Fat Bastard Gazette” does not purport to offer any definitive medical or pharmaceutical advice whatsoever in any explicit or implied manner. Always consult a qualified physician in all medical or pharmaceutical matters. “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is only the opinion of informed nonprofessionals for the general edification and entertainment of the greater public.

No similarities to any existing names or characters are expressed or implied. We reserve the right to offend or support anybody, anything, or any sacred totem across the globe.

Like this:

Thanksgiving is over eh you already morbidly oversized, porcine, fat bellied sows and boars. What do you have to show for it? an extra five, ten, fifteen pounds or more on those already straining joints, heart arrhythmias, spikes in blood sugar levels, further increases in blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and let us not forget those dangerous deep vein blood clots lurking in your legs just waiting to break off and cause a lethal pulmonary embolism. Life is great is it not you miserable overfed cretins! In addition, more holidays are fast on the near horizon, yes, bottom feeders. Let us all chant the mantra; Food and drink food and drink food and drink food and drink food and drink food and drink food and drink, come on every one of you, fat bellied sows and boars, food and drink food and drink food and drink food and drink food and drink We must have food and drink food and drink. Does not the thought behind the simpleton refrain make one nauseous? It makes the staff at “Fat Bastard” want to bend over and vomit on the page!

Below for all you Ph.Ds. is the simplest, most obvious, healthful,food plan, available to all, short of a pure liquid diet which many of you are heading for if you insist on pursuing a slow death of gluttony and debauchery. It even has pictures for the functional illiterates among you.

CLICK ON PICTURE TO ENLARGE FINE PRINT

· Recommended plate size is 10 inches

· Enjoy fruit and/or dairy with your meal or save as a snack throughout the day

· Choose whole fruits over juice

· Aim for a variety of colors of fruits and vegetables

· Choose whole grain rice, pasta, cereals and breads

· Enjoy healthy fats such as olive oil or canola oil in small amounts

· Choose healthy cooking methods such as baking, broiling or grilling

CLICK ON PICTURE TO ENLARGE FINE PRINT

Can it be any more obvious than this, as to why so many of us walk around with pendulous bellies, tree trunk thighs, and no neck!

Dear Hail-Fellows well met, “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is written and edited by your favorite curmudgeons Captain Hank Quinlan and

Flatfoot Willie, Correspondent at Large with fellow Staff Writers

Staff (monkeys in the back room). We offer an ongoing tirade to support or offend anyone of any large dimension, cultural background, religious affiliation, or color of skin. This gazette rails against an eclectic mix of circus ring ne’er do wells, big ring fatty and fatso whiners, congenital idiots, the usual motley assortment of the profoundly dumbfounded, and a favorite of intelligent men everywhere, the

May the Most Venerable H. L. Mencken bless our unworthy but earnest attempts at tongue in cheek jocularity .

All this and more always keeping our major focus on “Why so fat?” Enough said? We at “The Fat Bastard Gazette” think so. If you like what you read, and you know whom you are, in this yellow blog, tell your friends. We would be elated with an ever-wider readership. We remain cordially yours, Captain Hank Quinlan and the Monkeys in the back room

“The Fat Bastard Gazette” does not purport to offer any definitive medical or pharmaceutical advice whatsoever in any explicit or implied manner. Always consult a qualified physician in all medical or pharmaceutical matters. “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is only the opinion of informed nonprofessionals for the general edification and entertainment of the greater public.

No similarities to any existing names or characters are expressed or implied. We reserve the right to offend or support anybody, anything, or any sacred totem across the globe.